Calling P.G. a green town is admirable, but this will not build up businesses. Most people simply don’t care, and are shopping for a bargain or an exceptional piece of art. Don’t wish for a tourist town. Wish for a town tourists enjoy visiting, a place that reminds them of a place long forgotten.

Say it louder. Cater to and take care of the locals and the tourists will want to be part of it. Take care of just the tourists and you lose the locals that may carry you through off season times.

Developer Robert Enea is now considering bringing a Paul Mitchell School to the old Lighthouse Cinema, where projectors were shut off in September.

City Manager Colangelo said he’d prefer to see the spot go to a retailer that will generate sales tax for the city. The only revenue the city would get from a cosmetology school would be from “students spending money here and patrons coming in to get beautified,” he said.

What happened to the discount liquor store idea? What about an Outback Steakhouse? Bring some REAL revenue. Or are there too many mediocre PG merchants that cannot even match the service of a formula chain establishment brown nosing the council these days?

I’m all for common sense to reduce waste, but this crap is ridiculous. This sounds like hippies that sold to the man out are back, and now they are broke and looking for handouts, or at least a reason to not find real work. “Dude, lets grow organic herbs and sell them, like, to the hardware store for some nails”. “Yah, man – we can also have a fashion show with garbage. We can get a far out grant from the city and score some bud, man.”

From the website.

Are you having a gathering where you want to use biodegradable food service items? Want to spread the word on how to help organizations become more sustainable?
Click here to see a page of sources for biodegradable goods.http://www.sustainablepg.org/green/bio_goods.php

Got a lot of time on your hands and don’t want to use modern disenfectants or cleaners? They recommend solving world problems with vinegar. Does not work.

Then lets change some more. After a few tokes they come up with this fantasy:

Residents walk throughout town finding the goods they need and new stores open to showcase locally manufactured products. A local bike store houses a bike-lending library, and citizens ride scooters and bikes down our roads. A tool-lending library and a fix-it shop opens to allow residents to share tools and knowledge.

Problem is, the town does not cater to residents. This stuff is useless to tourists and generates little to no tax revenue. To really sustain, you need money. Unless we move toward living in communes . . .

When people near and far imagine Pacific Grove, there isn’t necessarily one image that comes to mind. And that’s a concern to business owners who want to draw more visitors and boost sales in America’s Last Hometown.

Another issue that came up repeatedly was the fact that the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau no longer promotes Pacific Grove.

Nancy Holland, owner of Reincarnation Vintage Clothing in Pacific Grove, said she went to the bureau’s kiosk at El Estero on Sunday to investigate because she hadn’t heard a single foreign accent in her shop this summer.

She asked the person behind the counter whether there were any “cute little antique shops in Pacific Grove.”

“She goes, ‘I’m sorry. They don’t want to participate. I can’t tell you anything. I’ll tell you how to get to the border (of Pacific Grove),'” Holland said, adding, “Talking about these idea are all well and good, but if people don’t come here, we’re going to die.”

It these businesses sold something people wanted in the first place, they would be found.

When I tell business associates that I live in Pacific Grove, the image is one of beaches and hotels, not antique stores or even restaurants. Tourists come to P.G. for a quiet hotel room, and then go to Carmel or Monterey to vacation. Give P.G. back to the locals. Or pimp the town and build a casino or music hall.

Some business owners tell us they’ve seen a 20 percent drop in sales lately compared to past years. Business owners say that’s because they’re feeling the effects of not being a part of the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

You may remember last year the city decided not to renew its membership because the city didn’t have the funds.

So businesses want the city to pay for their advertising? If they are so darned smart why don’t THEY pay to be included in Visitors Bureau?

About 11:25 p.m., a 31-year-old man was walking on the trail near the Naval Postgraduate School when he encountered Robert Cepeda, 33, of Marina and the men began to argue, said Monterey Lt. Leslie Sonné.

When the fight escalated, Cepeda stabbed the 31-year-old, whose identity is not being released because of federal privacy laws, Sonné said.

About five minutes after they were called, officers found Cepeda on the trail at the edge of city limits near Roberts Lake. He was in possession of a knife that matched the description of the weapon used in the fight, Sonné said.

Results of the city-commissioned telephone survey, presented at Wednesday’s meeting, found that 35 percent of those polled opposed a tax increase, 47 percent would support a tax increase for essential city services and 13 percent wanted more information.

Under consideration for increases are the city’s transient occupancy tax, business licenses, property transfer fees and sales taxes. The council is considering implementing a parcel tax. Such measures would need a simple majority — or 50 percent of votes cast plus one — to pass.

Someone called this a majority favored a tax increase.

47% for
48% not for

Tell me the pollsters are not current or former city employees in charge of the budget.